> Followup to: <199705200614.IAA18314@lrc.di.epfl.ch>
> By author: Werner Almesberger <almesber@lrc.di.epfl.ch>
> In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> >
> > - shared libraries: I think it would be great if we had some means
> > to generate a customized libc without recompiling, e.g. scan all
> > the executables for symbols, then copy the relevant modules from
> > the system's libc to a new, smaller libc. Right now, it's either
> > static linking or a lot of guesswork (and hours of libc
> > recompilation). Does this sound feasible ?
> >
>
> I actually wrote a tool to do this while working for Yggdrasil. The
> bottom line is that it isn't worth the hassle: even with the very
> small spectrum of binaries that we were using, it only cut down libc
> by some 10-15%, and you may have to recompile it if you add any more
> binaries to the pool you want to execute...
I think the Debian boot-floppies package does something similar to good
effect, working from a PIC libc.a. Of course, it also helps a lot to have
an integrated swiss-army-knife type of program that does nearly everything
needed, all in one program, all fancy options deleted. I _think_ Bruce
Perens wrote both, but don't quote me on that.
If you're interested, look at ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/ or
http://www.debian.org/, the sources should not be hard to find. Or ask me
and I'll try to dig it up :-)
MfG Kai